Has Microsoft got what it takes to acquire both Nokia & RIM?

Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop may have played down speculation that Nokia has been rumored to acquire Research In Motion, the maker of Blackberry, but reality points to open clues.

Africa's prosperity depends on its professionals

Africa's brain drain has almost become a cliche despite deplorable statistics and ominous reports about this phenomenon since the turn of the 21st century.

Adcorp's Employment Index is baseless and flawed

How employment/ recruitment/ manpower agencies conduct and analyse their surveys or reports baffles me to my wits end. The report by Adcorp on South Africa's employment index is vague and baseless (http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/universities-fail-to-produce-enough-graduates-in-business-oriented-fields-2012-01-10.) Headlined "Universities fail to produce enough graduates in business-oriented fields" by Engineering News'online edition of the 10th Jan 2012, reflects poor analytical ability and senseless judgment.

CSR and the legal principle of "limited liability". Is the latter principle still relevant for a modern corporation?

As i learn more about the sustainable value of a modern corporation as a responsible corporate citizen, i develop a deeper interest and inquisitive appetite of this global socio-economic phenomenon, i.e. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Since its theoretical development in the 1960's when the first arguements were posited on its relevance to the corporation motivated by profits, it has become a global force to be reckoned with. It is poised to become a proxy for a new sustainable capitalism as Al Gore, the former US Vice-President calls it. Arguements went further to define the meaning of S in CSR. That gave birth to what we know today as stakeholders through the stakeholder theory. Today it is no longer a debate, businesses are painstakingly attempting to fine tune themselves to align.

At the same time, there's one major factor that is not being considered amid the global activism of fine-tuning modern corporations to be responsible. This one factor - limited liability - is a legal principle developed to protect the risk takers (investors and entrepreneurs) in the form of incentive should the opportunity go down the drain or circa. It means owners of production have limited exposure in relation to business risks. According to some eocnomists, this was the best ever piece of a legal principle to be developed in the market economy. We are now in the 21st century and global force of CSR is reckoning. Is this legal principle still relevant? Well, owners of production are protected by this principle in terms of business misfortune. But what about the broader stakeholders? Suppliers and communities in particular. Imagine this scenario which has practically occured during the beginning of the global recession in 2008. Lehman Brothers and other global corporates come to mind.

If we accept that a community is a key stakeholder in a business, what is the form of incentive when a corporation goes bust. I am thinking about this in terms of corporate social responsibility. Isn't the community, as a stakeholder, supposed to be protected by the limited liability. A simple answer may be no, why should the community be compensated because it is not a risk taker in the business? The irony, however, is that when the US government funded various corporations it used tax money to rescue those corporations. So, the community, as a tax payer, rescues the business that it viewed the community as not a risk taker. The big question: Is a legal principle of a "limited liability" still relevant amid the reckoning global force of sustainable capitalism and Corporate Social Responsibility? Your thoughts will be valuable. 

Africa - from Vuk'uzenzele to Vuk'uzakhe

Vuka uzenzele and Vuka uzakhe or, spoken form, Vuk'uzenzele, Vuk'uzakhe are both Zulu expressions. Zulu or IsiZulu in formal expression, is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa. Vuk'uzenzele mean "wake up and do it yourself" and Vuk'uzakhe, "wake up and build yourself". The expressions are commonly used to promote a courageous fortitude for a self-reliant mind-set. 

For the past three months having temporarily settled here in Europe, i have been fascinated by the socio-economic and political developments but at the same time dissappointed at the depth coverage, or lack thereof, by European newspapers on Africa, with specific reference to her economic prospects and benefits of her people, inevitably a future for most Western nations. My dissapointment is not so much about the generic coverage of current affairs which are mainly in the political domain and which Africa gets attention. My fret is on the complete absence of profound or perhaps comprehensive coverage on the positive, economic prospects, growth and positioning. At best, the only time i came across a positive "on-your face" coverage about Africa is when i noticed advertisements from a few African corporates and some governments.   

Of course i am venting to the media. Let me qualify my fretting. In general Africa is still projected as the poor continent, in 2011, amid private presidential dialogues, presidential visits and trade missions between African and developed countries in the West. This narrow, shallow view and projection about my beloved continent with mountains, rivers and green valleys is mind sapping, as if i dont have such media problems at home either. Media, generally and according to my experience, is a propagandists tool in both business and politics. As a proud African child first and a professional, i am tempted to feel and perceive that i am being taken advantage of.

For every topic about emerging markets, only China, Brazil and India are mentioned. Russia and Vietnam in the waiting. When i look forward to read news segments about BRICS, it's all the same disappointment. The acronym, as universally known, was coined by Jim O'Neill as BRIC (Brazil Russia India China). The S was added after the latter's nations welcomed South Africa in December 2010, to BRICS. As of late, this acronym is spelled BRICs. I first took offence but subsequently took solace that it was a printing error. It dawned on me that it was reality powered by perception of media, of course with influence from elsewhere. To my jolt astonishment, the small S does not even represent South Africa in the acroym, or Southern Africa for that matter, it's a plural letter for the BRIC nations. I give up!

If there's one lesson that Africa should learn from the colonial eras, is to guard against a state of De ja vu, i.e. the second coming of colonialism disguised as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We need more visionaries, leaders, our own economists, intellectuals, intelligentsia, entrepreneurs, a plathora of academic researchers and professionals alike. The spirit of African self-reliance is not in any manner suggesting a closed development amid globalisation. It simply denotes a state of saying "we are tired of being robbed and ripped off", we are well conscious of market transactions and can do it without relying largely on external advice. The better part of the 21st cenntury is for Africa!